Hidden Cultivation Method

Rong City, Chengtian Martial Arts School.

"Coach Kang!"

Li Changqing came running along the greenway in a tracksuit. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"You brat, I've been waiting for you half an hour. Get inside, quick."

Li Changqing let Kang Tianchen drag him toward the martial arts school. All his vitality was coiled within his dantian, without the slightest leak.

Forty kilometers in half an hour—he had broken his own record again.

The instant Kang Tianchen grabbed him, Li Changqing, whose Listening to Strength had reached mastery, immediately gauged the former's deliberately unrestrained vitality.

"Lower-Rank Three-Star? Four-Star?" Yet Li Changqing was not entirely certain.

Why did Kang Tianchen's vitality feel somewhat insubstantial?

If Li Changqing's vitality was thick crude oil, then Kang Tianchen's was thin mineral water, with a trace of mist mixed into it.

Though most of his vitality, like Li Changqing's, lay coiled in his dantian, he had not fully formed the pellet. Some of it still flowed through his body.

The two hurried into the martial arts school.

It was completely different from the last time Li Changqing had come. The enormous training hall was packed full of people, leaving no room even to set foot.

"So many people?"

"Why else do you think I was in such a hurry?" Kang Tianchen's expression did not look good. Aside from smiling when he first saw Li Changqing, his face had been dark the entire time after entering.

"Coach Kang, why do you seem a little unhappy?"

Kang Tianchen fell silent for a moment. "Is it that obvious?"

"Your face is black."

Kang Tianchen: ...

"Stop talking nonsense and get in line."

Without Kang Tianchen needing to say anything, Li Changqing spotted the huge stone stele surrounded by people at a glance.

Kang Tianchen sighed. "This is a martial arts scroll carved by a Psionic User. It's extremely precious."

Psionic Users were the dream of every Martial Artist, as well as humanity's final trump card against the unknown alien fleets.

After undergoing Psionic Ascension, a Psionic User's power came from the Psionic Monsoon in Subspace. The information contained within it could only be expressed clearly through Psionic Energy.

Yet even for Martial Artists, rash contact with Psionic Energy was highly dangerous. To let Martial Artists absorb this knowledge, Psionic Users generally used paintings, carvings, and similar forms to bind powerful psionic information into psionic items for non-Psionic Users to slowly study.

Chen Danqing's Artistic Conception Scroll was also a lower-rank application of this method.

A Psionic Stone Carving.

Li Changqing's eyes shone. This was truly something extraordinary.

His gaze passed over the crowd and settled on the three people surrounding the stone stele.

What dense vitality!

With spiritual power surpassing that of a Lower-Rank Martial Artist, Li Changqing sensed immense vitality from them.

But upon closer examination...

The three of them did not seem to possess Sun Sheng's aura of a prehistoric beast.

They still fell short.

"You're too late. You'll have to wait until everyone finishes looking." Kang Tianchen gestured toward the stone stele with his chin.

"Liu Yi and the others are still studying it. You'll have to wait a while longer."

Li Changqing's eyes flickered. "Coach Kang, are they the senior brothers representing our martial arts school in the Youth Cup?"

"More or less. Among those in our school who meet the age requirement, they're already the strongest."

"Does our martial arts school have a chance of winning?"

"Winning?" Kang Tianchen's face darkened further at those words.

"Keeping our place in the top eight would count as success."

As they spoke, a burly man built like an iron tower approached from outside the training hall.

"Coach Kang, is this the student you mentioned?"

"Huang Xuan, why are you only getting here now?" Kang Tianchen stepped aside and placed one hand on Li Changqing's shoulder.

"Let me introduce you."

"Li Changqing, this is your future senior brother, Huang Xuan. He'll also be representing our martial arts school in the Youth Cup."

"Hello, Senior Brother Huang Xuan."

"Hahaha, then I'll call you Junior Brother Li from now on." Huang Xuan was naturally familiar, grabbing Li Changqing's hand and giving it a shake.

His skin was rough, but the instant their hands touched, Li Changqing raised his brows.

This vitality...

The vitality within Huang Xuan's body, whether in quantity or density, was inferior to Kang Tianchen's, let alone his own.

Moreover, the other man's qi and blood had not even completed pellet formation. More than half of it was still mist-like.

He had not even completed pellet formation. More than half his qi and blood was still mist-like.

This meant Huang Xuan had not properly completed his work during the Transformation Stage, leaving him imperfect even after becoming a Martial Artist.

"Junior Brother Li, work hard. Try to be able to complete an entire set of Tai Chi without resting next year, and enter the Transformation Stage soon."

Huang Xuan leaned close to Li Changqing's shoulder and whispered, "When the time comes, this senior brother will prepare a great gift for you."

Winking at Li Changqing, Huang Xuan pushed through the crowd.

"Coach Kang, I'll head over first."

The other Martial Artists actually obediently made way when they saw Huang Xuan.

"Senior Brother Huang doesn't need to line up?"

"Hahaha." Huang Xuan turned back and laughed.

"Junior Brother Li, I'm a competitor in this Youth Cup, so I don't need to queue."

Li Changqing tilted his head.

"Coach Kang, how about you register me too? Then we won't need to line up."

Before Li Changqing could finish, Kang Tianchen flicked him on the forehead.

"You brat sure talk a lot. Huang Xuan is a proper Martial Artist. What are you?"

"I won't even mention registering you as a Martial Artist. Wait until you truly pass the martial arts school's assessment before talking about anything else!"

After saying that, Kang Tianchen looked at Huang Xuan again.

"And you, quit grinning like an idiot. In this Youth Cup, don't fail to place again. You represent our martial arts school. At the very least, make it into the top thirty-two, understand?"

"Top thirty-two?" Huang Xuan rubbed his chin, his expression turning somewhat more serious.

"Don't worry, Coach. I'll give it everything I've got."

Li Changqing listened, puzzled. "Coach Kang, our martial arts school is one of only two in Rong City that have ever cultivated Psionic Users. Shouldn't we at least secure second place and contend for the championship?"

"Secure second place? Contend for the championship?" Huang Xuan's eyes widened.

"Coach, what kind of love potion did you feed Junior Brother? Does he have some misunderstanding about our martial arts school?"

Kang Tianchen's expression was grave. "Changqing, didn't I tell you before? Jixing Martial Hall, ranked first in Rong City, is a nationwide chain of martial arts schools. They're different from us."

At that, Kang Tianchen's face visibly darkened, and dejection appeared on it.

"Over the years, not only has the gap between us failed to shrink, it has only grown wider. Do you know why the headmaster went to such lengths to bring back this Psionic Stone Carving?"

"Huang Xuan, tell him."

"Well, three days ago, we had an exchange match with them." Huang Xuan scratched his head. "We lost rather badly."

"But even if we can't fight for the championship or second place, making the semifinals shouldn't be a problem, right?" Li Changqing pointed at the three people studying the stone stele.

"We have three people here. Saying top eight is enough is a bit... you know."

Kang Tianchen sighed, speaking words of despair.

"In that exchange match, all three of Liu Yi and the others lost. And we never even got to see Jixing Martial Hall's top-ranked student."

Their own trump cards had not even gotten to meet the other side's top-ranked student.

Even Li Changqing could barely keep it together. Wasn't this a little too miserable?

"Alright, Junior Brother Li, don't be too discouraged." Huang Xuan, the person involved, instead consoled Li Changqing.

"Jixing Martial Hall has geniuses from all over the country. The martial arts schools in Rong City don't compare ourselves to them. You just need to work hard yourself and strive to become a Martial Artist next year."

"Huang Xuan is right. We don't compare ourselves to them." Kang Tianchen echoed.

"Changqing, the people at Jixing Martial Hall are all geniuses. We don't compare ourselves to them. As long as you enter the Transformation Stage this year, I guarantee that you'll have a place in the martial arts school in the future."

Kang Tianchen's gaze fell on the three people before the stone stele.

"Let's hope the stone stele the headmaster brought back is useful. I won't say much else—there's still hope of defeating Jixing Martial Hall's third and fourth seats. There aren't many freshmen from the Academy Faction this year either, so holding onto the top eight shouldn't be difficult."

Li Changqing stood where he was, his consciousness drifting.

Jixing Martial Hall?

A figure surfaced in his mind.

Compared with Sun Sheng, who was stronger—their top-ranked student?

Half an hour later.

The three senior brothers at the front finally finished studying it. Looks of sudden realization appeared on their faces as they hurried away.

"Time is limited. Each Martial Artist participating in the Youth Cup gets half an hour to study it, five at a time."

"For all other students, it's still five groups, five minutes per group. Hurry up!"

The moment the three senior brothers left, a coach began shouting through a loudspeaker.

The crowd moved faster.

However, apart from the first three senior brothers, no one afterward could make heads or tails of the stone stele.

Seeing this, many students left one after another.

They had some self-awareness. A Psionic User's handiwork was not so easily comprehended.

By the time it was Li Changqing's turn, everyone else had left. Only he, Kang Tianchen, and a coach recording the results remained in the entire martial arts school.

"Your student?"

The coach in charge of recording immediately understood when he saw Kang Tianchen.

He pointed at his wristwatch.

"The headmaster will be back in half an hour at most. Hurry it up. I'm going out for a smoke."

Very soon, only Li Changqing and Kang Tianchen remained in the training hall.

"There, go take a look." Kang Tianchen led Li Changqing to the front of the stone stele.

"Though you probably won't be able to see anything either, just take it as broadening your horizons."

Kang Tianchen left as well, leaving Li Changqing alone where he stood.

He stood before the stone stele. An invisible membrane covered its smooth surface.

He could not make out the information carved upon it.

Psionic Energy.

Without any reminder, the suffocating energy instantly made Li Changqing understand what it was.

No wonder no one could comprehend it. If one's spirit could not resonate with this stone stele, the psionic barrier would block all information.

Li Changqing rubbed his chin. Just as he was considering how to achieve Psionic Resonance—

Boom!

Thunder exploded in his mind.

The Psionic Energy covering the entire stone stele suddenly spread outward.

Even the image carved by the Psionic User lost its spiritual charm as the Psionic Energy temporarily detached from it.

But that was not all. In Li Changqing's eyes, the enormous stone stele seemed to undergo the scouring of time, washing away all ornament to reveal its true simplicity.

Beneath it was an ancient carving hidden even deeper.

A simple Yin-Yang Fish slowly revolved and fell into Li Changqing's constricted pupils.

There was actually something else hidden beneath a psionic item?

Before he could even think, the Yin-Yang Fish had already entered his mind.

Tai Shang Gan Ying Pian (Human Immortal Department)

He could not think at all. Vast information flooded Li Changqing's consciousness.

The enormous Yin-Yang Fish slowly revolved.